Queensryche Court Case Delayed Until January

The pending legal showdown between Geoff Tate and his former bandmates in Queensryche will have to wait a few more months.

Blabbermouth reports that the trial, which is being held to determine who owns the legal rights to the Queensryche name, has been delayed until January 2014, following a request for a continuance from Tate "to provide sufficient time for the parties to continue active settlement negotiations without incurring substantial trial preparation costs and, if such efforts fail, to provide sufficient time to complete discovery and properly prepare for what will be a very lengthy trial."

According to Tate, his efforts to take depositions from potential witnesses will be hampered over the coming months due to his former bandmates' touring commitments. "Many of these witnesses are located out of state," continued his claim. "The facts that underlie this dispute span nearly 30 years. Trial could take three to four weeks with 20 to 40 witnesses."

Not surprisingly, the current members of Queensryche -- who have been performing with new vocalist Todd La Torre while Tate tours and records with his own band, also named Queensryche -- dispute Tate's version of the truth. In their response to Tate's request for a continuance, his opponents asserted that "from October 2012 until April 2013 there was nearly no activity in the case" and added that any difficulties he's facing are "100 percent the result of [Tate's] failure to properly prosecute."

Given that Tate is essentially trying to win the right to pay his former bandmates the current fair market value of their share in the Queensryche name, it's also unsurprising that the remaining band members are accusing Tate of attempting to dilute and devalue their brand in order to secure a cheaper settlement.

Noting that their recent La Torre-fronted CD "entered the U.S. charts at No. 23 and continues to get 9-out-of-10-star reviews and is still selling very well on a weekly basis around the globe," while Tate's competing Queensryche album "entered the charts at No. 82, received very bad reviews around the world, and has slowed to almost no more weekly sales," the group related its difficulties in the touring marketplace following the split -- difficulties that they claim are entirely Tate's fault.

Claiming that Tate "chose very poorly in hiring live musicians that have shown that they are not capable of representing the correct performances of the Queensryche music legacy, and he was constantly replacing them," the band went on to accuse him of undercutting their rate of $20,000 a show and concluded that his "sub-par band and cut-rate pricing ... continues to be damaging to the Queensryche brand and legacy no matter who ultimately wins control after trial."